Lenovo Vibe P1 hands-on

The 5.5" magnesium alloy-clad phone succeeds at keeping the size at the manageable 152.9 x 75.6 x 4.6-9.9mm (6.02 x 2.98 x 0.18-0.39 in.), though the phone feel pretty heavy in the hand, at the whopping 189g (6.67 ounces). This heft could be expected, though, given the metal casing, and the huge 5000 mAh Li-Pol power pack. The tapered rear makes a positive difference for the handling grip, though the polished back feels a tad slippery in the palm. The touch finger scanner is embedded in the home key, which we actually prefer before placing those on the back of the device, where it has to be picked up to reach.

The processing power hints at a midrange device, but with the metal chassis and a 5.5-inch 1080p IPS-LCD display, the Lenovo Vibe P1 strives to be more than that. The screen is bright and with wide viewing angles, looking good all around.

A Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor is running the show here, ploughing through the interface with ease. Lenovo has paired it with 2 GB of RAM and the generous 32 GB internal storage, plus it has thrown in an up to 128GB microSD card slot, so no complaints about the processing power ot memory amount at this price point.

Unfortunately, the 13 MP shooter on the back doesn't have optical image stabilization like Lenovo's previous battery-buster, the K80, but it sports something arguably more useful - phase detection autofocus. This allows it to focus extremely rapidly, so you won't fret that much that you'll miss a shot, or that it would become smudged.